POV: you’re Derek Shelton and the Pirates, and Zach somehow got past security and into the Pirates’ dugout

*Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*

That about sums up the mood of Pirates fans from the past week—an interminable sigh. On paper, going 3-3 against the Houston Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks is not the end of the world. It is not great by any stretch, but it is not like going 0-6. However, in a playoff race—with 2 of those 3 losses being against a Diamondbacks team against whom the Pirates are competing for a playoff spot—with the way that those losses occurred, it feels like an 0-6 week, and it feels like the postseason hopes to which the Buccos were clinging are beginning to slowly fade.

The week began in, frankly, incredible fashion. After falling behind 2-0 to the Astros on Monday, the Pirates scored a run in the sixth, another in the eighth to tie the game, and then Michael A. Taylor cranked a three-run bomb in the ninth off star closer Josh Hader, putting a bow on a 5-3 comeback victory to open the series on the back of Paul Skenes’ 6 IP, 2 R (1 earned) outing. Carmen Mlodzinski and Aroldis Chapman held down the fort, keeping the Astros’ total at 2, and David Bednar was able to earn the save despite allowing a third Houston run to cross the plate in the bottom of the ninth. 

Tuesday was great, too. Bailey Falter returned from a long stint on the injured list, recording 5.1 innings in his first outing, allowing two runs (one earned) in a 6-2 win. Michael A. Taylor’s 2-run blast in the sixth to extend the lead to 5-1 was his second in as many games, and would put the game out of reach, as the Bucco bullpen would pitch 3.2 scoreless innings. 

Then Wednesday came around. Jake Woodford was promoted from triple-A Indianapolis for his first start as a Pirate. To be frank, I was not expecting much, but he pitched quite well. He allowed only two hits in five innings, striking out three. The problem, however, was that O’Neil Cruz committed three errors during Woodford’s five innings, which meant that Jake’s line actually read 5 IP, THREE R (0 ER). Instead of leaving the game with a 4-0 lead (the Pirates raced out to an early lead courtesy of a Joey Bart two-run shot, along with two other run-scoring hits, all occurring in the second inning), Woodford left the game with a 4-3 lead. New trade deadline acquisition Jalen Beeks followed Woodford, pitching 0.2 innings and giving up a hit, and then Colin Holderman came in to face Mauricio Dubón to get the last out of the inning. Instead of retiring Dubón, he allowed a go-ahead two-run home run, only Dubón’s fourth of the season, and that would be the last run scored by either team. An agonizing loss that would never have occurred had Cruz not made two errant throws or tried to catch a pop-up in left field that was clearly Bryan Reynolds’ ball to catch. A loss that likely would not have happened if Holderman did not serve up a gopher ball to a guy with very little power in his bat. You simply cannot lose a game when you tag one of the opponent’s better starters for four runs and your spot starter gives up zero earned runs. 

After a day off on Thursday, the Pirates returned home on Friday to face the Diamondbacks with their three best pitchers taking the mound in the series—Luis Ortiz, Mitch Keller, and Paul Skenes. This was surely the time to capitalize, right?

Ortiz gave up four runs before recording an out, naturally. He allowed the first six Snakes to reach base safely. 9 DBacks came to bat before Ortiz got out of the inning, allowing five runs to score, including back-to-back-to-back home runs by Ketel Marte, Joc Pederson, and former Pirate and newly-acquired first-baseman Josh Bell. The game was over…or so I thought. The Battlin’ Bucs scratched and clawed their way back into the game. It went from 5-0 to 6-3. They scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-6 lead. The comeback was complete! PNC Park was going bananas! The famously monotonous Joe Block was even demonstrating emotion on the television broadcast!

And then Josh Bell took a 103 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman on the outside corner over the fence to tie the game. It was the first time in MLB history that a pitch that fast was hit for a home run. I am not going to fault Chapman for that blown save—sometimes you just have to tip your cap to the hitter and move on. It was still a tie game.

The Pirates did not score in the bottom of the seventh, so Colin Holderman came on in the eighth. Single, pop-out, stolen base, line-out, wild pitch, double. The Snakes re-gained the lead. It was Holderman’s third earned run allowed in his last two appearances. The DBacks would extend their lead in the ninth through Marte’s second home run of the game, this one coming off Dennis Santana, and Rowdy Tellez’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth was not enough as the Pirates fell short by a run, 9-8. 

Saturday’s game was a nice 4-2 win, although a long rain delay meant Keller could only go 4 innings, causing the Pirates to empty their bullpen, which would cause problems in Sunday’s game. Joey Bart’s second inning solo shot and Bryan Reynolds’ go-ahead, 2-run missile in the bottom of the sixth accounted for three of the four runs the Pirates scored, and Bednar was able to record his 20th save of the season, albeit with significant difficulty. He allowed two hits, a walk, and a run, stranding the tying run on base to end the game. Due to the rain delay, the Pirates were forced to use five relief pitchers, with Beeks throwing 20 pitches, Nicolas 21, Chapman 18, and Bednar 23. Presumably, none of them would be available for Sunday’s game, leaving a very shorthanded bullpen. 

Sunday’s game started well. In the first inning, one trade deadline acquisition—Bryan De La Cruz—drove in another—Isiah Kiner-Falefa—to stake Skenes to an early lead. In the second, three more runs would cross, with a Yasmani Grandal double making it 2-0, and an IKF triple plating two more. A 4-0 lead with Skenes pitching surely was comfortable. 

Skenes did not have his best “stuff” yesterday—not by a mile—but he still pitched well enough to win the game. He left the game after 5.1 innings, allowing one run to score on his watch, with two more being his responsibility. Hunter Stratton, who came on in relief of Paul, allowed one of those two runs to score. Skenes’ final line ended up being 5.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K. Again, he did not pitch all that well by his standards, but he still had a two-run lead when all was said and done. 

As a result of the rain delay the previous night, bullpen arms were thought to be limited, so who came on for the seventh inning with a two-run lead? You guessed it! Colin Holderman! Walk, sacrifice bunt, walk, strike out. Those were the results of the first four plate appearances for Arizona batters in the seventh. Joc Pederson, a left-handed hitter who is having a great year playing almost exclusively against right-handed pitchers, was due up. His season stats include 17 homers and a .931 OPS (.282 batting average) at the time of writing, but only a .200 batting average with 12 strike outs against left-handed pitching on the season. Now, I know that Beeks and Chapman pitched the previous day—the previous two days, actually—but you would imagine that either one of them could have come in to face one batter, especially with a day off the following day. Even if bringing in a left-handed pitcher would have caused Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo to pinch hit for Joc, that would still be removing one of the most potent bats from their lineup. 

Shelton left Holderman in the game. Holderman surrendered a three-run home run to Joc Pederson. The Pirates lost the game. The Pirates lost the season series to the Snakes, which is one of the tie-breakers for the postseason. They are now 3.5 games out of a playoff spot with series against the Padres at home, away against the Dodgers, and then away against the Padres. 

As I see it, there are two people mainly at fault for not having a great week last week: Holderman (which I imagine, at this point, is pretty obvious) and manager Derek Shelton. For Holderman, it is simple. He went from being one of the best relief pitchers in baseball in the first two months of the season to not being able to get anyone out. In his last four appearances, he has allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings, including four home runs. In his last fifteen appearances (14.1 innings), he’s allowed twelve runs. His control is awful, too. He has walked nine batters in those 14.1 innings. (Tip of the cap to Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette for the statistics). I do not understand how he can keep pitching in such important spots, especially with his confidence being, in all likelihood, completely and utterly shot. 

That segues nicely into the other man who deserves the brunt of my criticism. Shelty, how do you continue to trot Holderman out there in such high-leverage scenarios? Remember when I said Beeks and Chapman would not be available for yesterday’s game? They were both warming up in the bullpen during the game, and Beeks made an appearance, pitching two-thirds of an inning and throwing 17 pitches after the lead had been relinquished. So…why could Beeks not be used to either pitch to Pederson or at least get him out of the game? Am I missing something? Per Adam Gretz, lefty hitters have a .295/.413/.452 slash line against Holderman this season. You were okay with leaving him in there to pitch to a guy who has a .931 OPS facing almost exclusively right-handed pitchers? 

After the game, Shelton essentially stated that Holderman needs to be better. I do not disagree with that statement one bit. However, I can tell you who else needs to be better. YOU need to be better, Derek. How many games have you cost this team with your complete managerial ineptitude, your incompetence, your situational unawareness? How many times can you try the same shit and expect different results? Is that not the definition of idiocy—attempting the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? 

All I can say is…you blew it. You really, really blew it. Now, the Pirates have to try and beat a Padres team that is 8-2 in their last 10 games with no Keller and no Skenes. Yikes